So how are you guys feeling after that big Banshee season finale? Are you grieving for Gordon? Were you stoked to see Proctor get some retribution? And how about Bunker getting his tattoos seared off by his brother? I spoke to Banshee EP Greg Yaitanes about all the great and gory goings-on, what we might expect from Season 4, and the new Banshee Saga episode debuting online.

IGN: It was quite an epic battle you staged here. But poor Gordon though! What was behind the decision to kill him off?

Greg Yaitanes: I think as you know, anybody who's about to leave the show, we really try to write toward a strong episode. They go out with a bang. They really get an opportunity to shine. We don't really send people off packing without a great story and a great episode under their belt. So in the case of Gordon, we worked toward this all season. There wasn't much behind the decision other than it felt right for the story. And also, at least for the audience you want to leave them feeling that now Carrie and Lucas no longer have any barriers between them. Except for their own trauma and the baggage they've experienced together. So it really opened up a lot of doors and a lot of possibilities for us.

Rus Blackwell in the Banshee: Season 3 finale.

Yaitanes: I can't say enough amazing things about that Rus [Blackwell]. You've never seen a cast fight so hard to undo a storyline before. Truly, every single person in the cast knocked on my door. And it's tough because you have to do what's best for the show and it's not about it being personal. And that's the hard thing, because everybody becomes a community and gets attached. And you hope it's never necessary to kill off someone, but doing so can also set up so many storylines. Just the way that Emmet's death did so many things. And the way Longshadow's death did so many things. And due to where we're taking Season 4, these are important moves we're making now.

IGN: Can we talk about the ending? Will Hood and Proctor be working together? It seemed like a lightbulb went off over Proctor's head.

Yaitanes: I read three of the scripts so far for Season 4 and I would love to answer that. But I can't without spoiling what we're setting up. All I can say is that the first 10 minutes of Season 4 will blow people away. And they'll never see it coming.

IGN: Let's talk about Mr. Dalton then. Hood had some great flashbacks and it seems like Dalton could return at some point.

Yaitanes: If everything goes right, that's not the last we've seen of Dalton. And working with David Harbour was such a great experience. I'd been wanting to work with him on a show for a while and the opportunity arose to do it on this one. He was terrific and just brought so much humanity to the role. Those roles can sometimes be thankless, but he really worked hard to humanize it. And that's one of the things I love so much about his work. He's able to inhabit characters and make me care for them so deeply. Especially a guy like this who can do terrible things.

IGN: A surprising element to the finale was the focus on the Kurt Bunker character and his relationship with his brother. What made you bring him to the forefront right at the end of the season?

Yaitanes: The storyline of Bunker and his brother and their power struggle is going to definitely carry over into next season. We also wanted to bring Tom (Pelphrey) on as someone who could be a featured member of the ensemble. He got a phenomenal response this year. His story was laid out very specifically and we took the time to present him to the audience. He's someone who cares deeply for who he is and he wants to make that change. And that struggle will be part of his Season 4 arc. But yeah, I would expect to see a true ensemble with Season 4, given all the phenomenal new stories and characters we've been able to set up this year.

IGN: You've got a new episode going live online right after the premiere ends called Banshee Saga. It's at BansheeSaga.com. Can you explain what it is?

Yaitanes: The Banshee Saga is for the die-hard fans, but also an opportunity for people who don't engage in our social content to be able to see what's been happening in the social sphere for Banshee over the last three years. The Banshee Saga takes the promotional material we've created in Banshee Origins, which uses all the main cast and is largely directed by myself and written by Jonathan (Tropper), and then folds those into the flashback footage that we've collected of the past few years from the show. And I sort of started from scratch to re-cut the whole experience.

Langley Kirkwood and Ivana Miličević in the Banshee: Season 3 finale.

Yaitanes: The Saga takes the essential Carrie/Lucas/Job storyline of thing that was happening in Banshee all during the first fifteen years. So it focuses on the build up to the heist with Rabbit. And it will take you up to the very moments before the pilot begins. It's kind of like a genesis pilot and something that the fans get to geek out on. And if you haven't been watching Banshee Origins online than it will be new content for you. It was part of the three-year vision for the social content to eventually get to this point and create this type of episode. It was a real undertaking. It moves very quickly and it's a very fun story-before-the-story. And it's as much a part of our show as any episode.

IGN: I was thrilled to hear that the show was returning for Season 4. But it's only for eight episodes now. Is there a reason it's no longer 10? I know you've also got a new Cinemax series called Quarry.

Yaitanes: I mean, I'm doing Quarry for Cinemax, yes. Directing every episode of Quarry, which I'm really excited about. But I feel like the model keeps changing anyway. 13 episodes was the model for a season. Then it was 10. Then eight was the model. Like True Detective and other shows that have done eight episode runs. There's nothing behind it other than that's what seems to be the new model for cable to some extent. And you also want to ride the full wave of enthusiasm, I think. When people know they have eight episode, they know those eight episode will be even more precious. That more is going to happen within each episode.